Post on 07-Apr-2018
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Organizational Theory
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OrganizationGreek Organon:
meaning a tool or instrument.
So, organizations are tools orinstruments to meet goals, objectives,to carry out tasks.
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Theories as Frames:Frames or Windows
filter
order the worldStructural Frame
Human Resource Frame
Political FrameCultural
Systems
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Structural ParadigmImage: A machine
Pyramid
Words: Efficient
Impersonal
Goal-drivenPhrase: The One Best Way
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Structural Assumptions:
Exist to accomplish its goals
Problems usually reflect an inappropriatestructure
Specialization permits higher levels of individualperformance.
Coordination and control are accomplished bestthrough the exercise of authority and impersonalrules.
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Structural ParadigmControl
Control
Control
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Truth or Fiction?Bureaucracy is the single best form of
organization for providing consistency,
predictability, stability, efficient performance,
rationalism and professionalism.
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Which is True?Rules promote fairness andaccountability in the conduct of public
business.Rules are also the enemy of progressand dispatch.
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Human Relations FrameImage: Family
Words: Caring, Nurturing, Supportive
Spirit
Concepts: motivation, empowerment,development, communication
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Human Relations Assumptions
Organizations exist to serve human needs
Organizations need the ideas, energy, and
talent that people provide
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IncentivesTo get them to cooperate you must induce
them to join the organization and then
induce them to contribute.
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IncentivesMaterial: money, compensation, bonuses
Personal: prestige, distinction, power
Values: loyaltyOpportunity: participation, efficacy
Security: job security, support
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Follett:We cannot put the individual on one side and
society on the other, we must understand the
complete interrelation of the two. Each has
no value, no existence without the other
There is no such thing as a self-made man.
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Where is your organization?Does it value people?
Does it treat people like adults?
Does it develop people?
Do managers treat employees as customers?
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Political ParadigmThe political frame views organizationsas alive political arenas that house a
complex variety of individuals andinterest groups.
This is not about elections and elected
positions.
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Political ParadigmImage: smoke-filled room battle
Words: wheeling and dealing
My way or no way.
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Political ParadigmIt is a world where men speak of moral
principles but act on power principles; a
world where we are always moral andour enemies always immoral.
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Political Paradigm
Morgan: "Power is the medium through which
conflicts of interest are ultimately resolved."
Dahl: "Power involves an ability to get another
person to do something that he or she would
not otherwise have done."
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Human Side of PowerPower Over
power is scarce
and limitedgiving orders
punish non-compliance
negative beliefsabout people
Power With
power increases
when sharedorders aredetermined by thesituation
participatoryproblem-solving
positive beliefsabout people
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Power Paradigm Assumptions
Important decisions: allocation of scarce resources.
Organizations are coalitions composed of a number of
individuals and interest groups
Individuals and interest groups differ in their values,
preferences, beliefs, information, and perceptions of reality.
Goals and decisions emerge from ongoing processes of
bargaining and negotiation among individuals and groups.
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Sources of PowerAuthority
Expertise
Control of Resources Control of Process
Information
Personal
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Exercise:Who has power in your
organization?
What are your sources of
power?
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Cultural Paradigm
A pattern of basic assumptions,
invented, discovered, or developed by
a given groups as the correct way to
perceived, think and feel
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Cultural Paradigm
Words: norms, values
The way it is done hereWe dont do that
our way.
Image: village, anthropologist
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International Dimensions Geert Hofstede, discovered that most differences among
national cultures were described by four cross-cultural
dimensions:
Uncertainty avoidance
Masculinity-femininity
Individualism-collectivism
Power distance
In later research, Canadian researcher Michael Harris Bond,
uncovered a fifth dimension
Long-term/short-term orientation
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Seidman:
Agency culture and personality
Attempts to change organizations without
understanding its culturenorms, beliefs,
and valuesare bound to fail.
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Open Systems
Organizations can be seen as open systems,like organisms which constantly adapt to
their internal and external environment
Image: organism
Words: flexible, fluid, changing
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Systems ParadigmWhat endures is process:
dynamic
adaptive
creative
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Wheatley:
Life is an open system: Open systems
that engage with their environment and
continue to grow and evolve.
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Assumptions
Subsystems are all interrelated and influence eachother;
Organizations are constantly changing.An organization's success depends on its ability toadapt to its environment
Any level or unit within an organization can beviewed as a system.
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Colleges/UniversitiesInputs?
Outputs?
Technology?Goals and Strategies?
Behavior and Processes?
Culture?Human Resources?
Structure?